76ers Reportedly Poach Assistant Coach Ime Udoka From Spurs
By Seth Carlson
The Sixers spurred a search for new coaches after a devastating playoff loss to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Toronto Raptors in a hard-fought second-round playoff series
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Philadelphia is adding former Spurs assistant coach Ime Udoka to their staff for their upcoming season. He'll serve as lead assistant under Brett Brown.
The Philadelphia 76ers are hiring San Antonio Spurs assistant Ime Udoka as an assistant coach on Brett Brown’s staff, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 7, 2019
Brown is himself a former Spurs assistant under Gregg Popovich. Most of his career since arriving in Philly has been overseeing a massive rebuild and trusting the process. As of the last two years, Philadelphia fought back to relevance thanks to the star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons; adding Udoka is a wise move for the Sixers, as the Spurs are a consistent winner and Udoka's collaboration with Popovich means he brings experience and chemistry with Brown to the new job.
After seven years under Gregg Popovich, Spurs assistant Ime Udoka has agreed to become Brett Brown’s lead assistant with the 76ers, league sources tell ESPN. Brown reaches back to his Spurs roots on a strong replacement for Monty Williams.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 7, 2019
The Sixers still need to make a number of player personnel decisions ahead of the June draft and July free agency period, but they've added an important voice into the fold to assist with all those deliberations.